Hostname: page-component-7b9c58cd5d-wdhn8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-15T01:02:19.063Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

MENTALISM VERSUS BEHAVIOURISM IN ECONOMICS: A PHILOSOPHY-OF-SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2016

Franz Dietrich  and
Christian List
Franz Dietrich
Affiliation:
Paris School of Economics & CNRS, CES-Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne, Maison des Sciences Economiques, 106-112 Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75647 Paris cedex 13, France; URL: .
Christian List
Affiliation:
London School of Economics, Departments of Government and Philosophy, London WC2A 2AE, UK; URL: .
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Behaviourism is the view that preferences, beliefs and other mental states in social-scientific theories are nothing but constructs re-describing people’s behaviour. Mentalism is the view that they capture real phenomena, on a par with the unobservables in science, such as electrons and electromagnetic fields. While behaviourism has gone out of fashion in psychology, it remains influential in economics, especially in ‘revealed preference’ theory. We defend mentalism in economics, construed as a positive science, and show that it fits best scientific practice. We distinguish mentalism from, and reject, the radical neuroeconomic view that behaviour should be explained in terms of brain processes, as distinct from mental states.

Keywords

Mentalismbehaviourismrevealed preferencedecision theoryscientific realism
Type
Symposium on Rational Choice and Philosophy
Information
Economics & Philosophy , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , July 2016 , pp. 249 - 281
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aumann, R. and Brandenburger, A.. 1995. Epistemic conditions for Nash Equilibrium. Econometrica 63: 1161–1180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bénabou, R. and Tirole, J.. 2003. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Review of Economic Studies 70: 489–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, M., Dennett, D., Hacker, P. and Searle, J.. 2007. Neuroscience and Philosophy. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Bermudez, J. L. 2009. Decision Theory and Rationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhattacharyya, A., Pattanaik, P. K. and Xu, Y.. 2011. Choice, internal consistency and rationality. Economics and Philosophy 27: 123–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, N. (ed.) 1980. What is functionalism? In Readings in Philosophy of Psychology, Vol. 1, 171–184. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bossert, W. and Suzumura, K.. 2009. External norms and rationality of choice. Economics and Philosophy 25: 139–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bossert, W. and Suzumura, K.. 2010. Consistency, Choice, and Rationality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, G. and Pettit, P.. 2005. The Economy of Esteem. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bricker, P. 2014. Ontological commitment. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2014 Edition), ed. Zalta, E. N.. URL: <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/ontological-commitment/>..>Google Scholar
Camerer, C. F., Loewenstein, G. and Rabin, M., eds. 2004. Advances in Behavioral Economics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camerer, C. F., Loewenstein, G. and Prelec, D.. 2005. Neuroeconomics: how neuroscience can inform economics. Journal of Economic Literature 43: 9–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caplin, A. and Schotter, A., eds. 2008. The Foundations of Positive and Normative Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chakravartty, A. 2014. Scientific realism. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 Edition), ed. Zalta, E. N.. URL: <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/scientific-realism/>..>Google Scholar
Chalmers, D. 2010. The Character of Consciousness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cherepanov, V., Feddersen, T. and Sandroni, A.. 2013. Rationalization. Theoretical Economics 8: 775–800.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. 1959. A review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior. Language 35: 26–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conradt, L. and List, C., eds. 2009. Group decision making in humans and animals. Theme issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 364: 717–852.Google Scholar
Cozic, M. 2012. Economie ‘sans esprit’ et données cognitives. Working paper, Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques, Paris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craver, C. F. and Alexandrova, A.. 2008. No revolution necessary: neural mechanisms for economics. Economics and Philosophy 24: 381–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, D. 1973. Radical interpretation. Dialectica 27: 313–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dennett, D. 1987. The Intentional Stance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Dietrich, F. 2012. Modelling change in individual characteristics: an axiomatic framework. Games and Economic Behavior 76: 471–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietrich, F. and List, C.. 2013a. A reason-based theory of rational choice. Noûs 47: 104–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietrich, F. and List, C.. 2013b. Where do preferences come from? International Journal of Game Theory 42: 613–637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietrich, F. and List, C.. 2016. Reason-based choice and context-dependence: an explanatory framework. Economics and Philosophy 32. doi: 10.1017/S0266267115000474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, J. M. 2008. On behaviorism, introspection, psychology and economics. Working paper, University of Paris, Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris.Google Scholar
Elster, J. 1998. Emotions and economic theory. Journal of Economic Literature 36: 47–74.Google Scholar
Fine, A. 1984. The natural ontological attitude. In Philosophy of Science, ed. Leplin, J., 261–277. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Fodor, J. A. 1974. Special sciences (or: The disunity of science as a working hypothesis). Synthese 28: 97–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fodor, J. A. 1975. The Language of Thought. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Geanakoplos, J. and Pearce, D.. 1989. Psychological games and sequential rationality. Games and Economic Behavior 1: 60–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gigerenzer, G., Todd, P. M. and Group, the ABC Research. 2000. Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Graham, G. 2010. Behaviorism. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2010 Edition), ed. Zalta, E. N.. URL: <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2010/entries/behaviorism/>..>Google Scholar
Gul, F. and Pesendorfer, W.. 2008. The case for mindless economics. In The Foundations of Positive and Normative Economics, ed. Caplin, A. and Schotter, A., 3–39. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Harré, R. 1970. The Principles of Scientific Thinking. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, G. W. 2008. Neuroeconomics: a critical reconsideration. Economics and Philosophy 24: 303–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harsanyi, J. C. 1955. Cardinal welfare, individualistic ethics, and interpersonal comparisons of utility. Journal of Political Economy 63: 309–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hausman, D. 1998. Problems with realism in economics. Economics and Philosophy 14: 185–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hausman, D. 2000. Revealed preference, belief, and game theory. Economics and Philosophy 16: 99–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hausman, D. 2008. Mindless or mindful economics: a methodological evaluation. In The Foundations of Positive and Normative Economics, ed. Caplin, A. and Schotter, A., 125–151. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hylton, P. 2007. Quine. Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, J. J. 1964. Mentalism in linguistics. Language 40: 124–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Köszegi, B. and Rabin, M.. 2007. Mistakes in choice-based welfare analysis. American Economic Review 97: 477–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langendoen, D. T. 1998. Bloomfield. In The MIT Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, ed. Wilson, R. A. and Keil, F. C., 90–91. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. 1983. Philosophical Papers Volume I. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
List, C. 1999. Craig's theorem and the empirical underdetermination thesis reassessed. Disputatio 7: 28–39.Google Scholar
List, C. 2003. Are interpersonal comparisons of utility indeterminate? Erkenntnis 58: 229–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
List, C. 2014. Free will, determinism, and the possibility of doing otherwise. Noûs 48: 156–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
List, C. and Menzies, P.. 2009. Non-reductive physicalism and the limits of the exclusion principle. Journal of Philosophy 106: 475–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
List, C. and Pettit, P.. 2011. Group Agency: The Possibility, Design, and Status of Corporate Agents. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
List, C. and Spiekermann, K.. 2013. Methodological individualism and holism in political science: a reconciliation. American Political Science Review 107: 629–643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loewenstein, G. 2000. Emotions in economic theory and economic behavior. American Economic Review 90: 426–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mandler, M., Manzini, P. and Mariotti, M.. 2012. A million answers to twenty questions: choosing by checklist. Journal of Economic Theory 147: 71–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manzini, P. and Mariotti, M.. 2007. Sequentially rationalizable choice. American Economic Review 97: 1824–1839.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manzini, P. and Mariotti, M.. 2012. Moody choice. Working paper, University of St Andrews.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxwell, G. 1962. On the ontological status of theoretical entities. In Scientific Explanation, Space, and Time; Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Volume III, ed. Feigl, H. and Maxwell, G., 3–27. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Mongin, P. 2011. La théorie de la décision et la psychologie du sens commun. Social Science Information 50: 351–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monton, B. and Mohler, C.. 2012. Constructive empiricism. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), ed. Zalta, E. N.. URL: <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/constructive-empiricism/>..>Google Scholar
Moore, J. 2001. On distinguishing methodological from radical behaviorism. European Journal of Behavior Analysis 2: 221–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Musgrave, A. 1989. NOA's Ark – fine for realism. Philosophical Quarterly 39: 383–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okasha, S.2016. On the interpretation of decision theory. Economics and Philosophy 32. doi: 10.1017/S0266267115000346.Google Scholar
Pettit, P. 1991. Decision theory and folk psychology. In Foundations of Decision Theory: Issues and Advances, ed. Bacharach, M. and Hurley, S., 147–175. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Pinker, S. 1994. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. New York, NY: William Morrow.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Psillos, S. 1999. Scientific Realism: How Science Tracks Truth. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Putnam, H. 1975. Philosophy and our mental life. In Mind, Language and Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quine, W. V. 1948. On what there is. Review of Metaphysics 2: 21–38.Google Scholar
Quine, W. V. 1960. Word and Object. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Quine, W. V. 1975. On empirically equivalent systems of the world. Erkenntnis 9: 313–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richter, M. K. 1966. Revealed preference theory. Econometrica 34: 635–645.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romer, P. M. 2000. Thinking and feeling. American Economic Review 90: 439–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuelson, P. 1938. A note on the pure theory of consumer's behaviour. Economica (New Series) 5: 61–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. K. 1971. Choice functions and revealed preference. Review of Economic Studies 38: 307–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. K. 1977. Rational fools: a critique of the behavioral foundations of economic theory. Philosophy and Public Affairs 6: 317–344.Google Scholar
Sen, A. K. 1993. Internal consistency of choice. Econometrica 61: 495–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapere, D. 1982. The concept of observation in science and philosophy. Philosophy of Science 49: 485–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, H. A. 1956. Rational choice and the structure of the environment. Psychological Review 63: 129–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sober, E. 1999. The multiple realizability argument against reductionism. Philosophy of Science 66: 542–564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suzumura, K. and Xu, Y.. 2001. Characterizations of consequentialism and nonconsequentialism. Journal of Economic Theory 101: 423–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M. 1995. Language is not an instinct. Cognitive Development 10: 131–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Fraassen, B. C. 1980. The Scientific Image. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wakker, P. 2010. Prospect Theory: For Risk and Ambiguity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weymark, J. A. 1991. A reconsideration of the Harsanyi–Sen debate on utilitarianism. In Interpersonal Comparisons of Well-being, ed. Elster, J. and Roemer, J. E., 255–320. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodward, J. 2009. Scientific Explanation. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2009 Edition), ed. Zalta, E. N.. URL: <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2009/entries/scientific-explanation/>..>Google Scholar